Teehee! 49 REVIEWS! Thank you, thank you, thank you: milky way bar, Katie, Bella, Schyler, Stella9876, hot4scott68, bncsammy, Airi Fairy, Tria Marie Val, Aly, Loku, a, RedHeadedWeasley's2nm, GiggleFlower, MrDarcy, sweet-red-rose, waterfaerie15, antonia, I AM EOWYN, Miss Court-A-Doo, Tay'slilgal, Lara Potter, SafetyXPins, melissa, Aqb DK, cathyrock, aurorasakura16, Syd, Fairy Princess, Eloise, cfav, TheDaughterOfKings, sakura668, aishteru, GreenEyes, LadySimone123, Shaznay, N.C.PysChick, Celina K2, AmyChris, suckr4romance81789, Lucy the Rat, ShadowHexx771, One With A Constant Sugar High, dancerrdw, summerxkiss2, EponineWeasley, Ronsreallove, and last, but most definitely not least, the loyal email reviewer, Ellie! I hold the deepest gratitude for those wonderful reviewers who have given me so much encouragement and inspiration. I now present to you...Chapter 11, which I would like to dedicate to my good friend LadySimone123, who will be unfortunately moving many miles away come this summer. This chapter takes a more serious ntoe towards the end, but there is the usual amount of humor near the beginning. I regret to inform all the fantastic, magnificent readers and reviewers of this story that the end is near. Two or three chapters, tops. Perhaps even less. And of course an chapter full of personal thank-yous to each person who took time out of their lives to leave a review! Enjoy Chapter 11, mates! (Ah! I find myself randomly using British lingo throughout the day in school, and I'm American! I get a lot of funny glances- I simply can't stop saying, "I reckon" and "bloody"! Oh, well. The result of being totally obssessed with writing and reading fanfiction!)
Sad thing is, I actually did take the advice of that git of a mirror and attempted to "comb that bloody hair." The only problem was, it absolutely flat-out REFUSED to be combed. Twenty minutes and three broken combs later, when I was stuck for the thousandth time trying to get through a particularly nasty tangle, I threw my current brush savagely across the bedroom, noting with some satisfaction the long black mark that it made on the wall.
"Rebellious curls," I growled. "I pity anyone who is inflicted with them." Sneering unattractively, I mentally composed a not-so-nice poem that put my feelings perfectly into words. (Merlin, I am turning into quite the poet these days!)
Just the sight of a mere bloody, darn, sodding curl,
Gives me the immediate desire to simply hurl!
Possessing a lousy sense of humor and a mind of their own,
I'd like to send those bloody buggers promptly home!
Which I can't, you see, for they currently inhabit my head,
I reckon I will have to constantly swear at them instead!
Why, oh why in Merlin was this plague inflicted on me?
Why, oh why does my hair always resemble the nest of a bee?
Grrr is all I have to say.
Bloody, darn, sodding curls- I'm warning you- you're going to pay someday!
How would you feel if day in and day out wizards secretly snickered at you hair?
Would you hold your head high and pretend you didn't care?
Or would you cry at night, in the safety of your bed,
Sob for those who judge you based on the appearance of your head?
The Day of Judgment is coming, my hairy little mates,
Very soon you will experience the—
Knock! Knock! Frantic pounding on the door rudely interrupted my beautiful poetry, which I'll even admit was getting more and more ridiculous by the second. And violent!
"Who's there?" I questioned at my attempt of groggily, pretending I was taking a short nap and MOST DEFINITELY NOT HIDING FROM AN EXTREMELY SEXY REDHEAD!
The door most unfortunately swung open even before the words were finished exiting my large mouth.
"Harry, Ginny, Fred, George, and Percy," Fred-or-George trilled, taking a perch on my unmade bed. "Here at your service."
I stared. "Aren't you two supposed to be at the joke shop? And you, Percy, at the Ministry?"
"Perce here doesn't have to be at work until 9:30." He slung an arm around his elder brother's stern, black-robe clad shoulders. "And we (he gestured to himself and Forge) have stopped in for a few minutes before the shop opens."
I raised my eyebrows suspiciously. "A likely story."
George sighed dramatically. "Fine. Harry fuggled us this morning about you and my dear brother's problems concerning DENIAL."
"He what?" It sounded rather "dirty," to tell the truth!
"He fuggled us." Fred shrugged nonchalantly. "It's a new product we're testing." He pulled a small object about the size of a compact mirror out of the side pocket in his robe. "I present to you...the fuggler! You can communicate from one place from another with these. Let me tell you, it totally scares the shi..."
"That's enough," I said firmly. Fred, as usual, completely ignored me.
" t out of people. All you have to do is hide this in someone's room, and then talk into your fuggler! Poor bloke will think he's going crazy, hearing voices! One of our most advanced and best products, if I say so myself. And also very useful," he added thoughtfully. "I reckon the Order will find it helpful."
Although I had to squelch the sudden urge to castrate Harry James Potter for alerting Fred and George of my "denial problems", I simply couldn't help but be impressed with the fuggler.
"That's a brilliant bit of magic there," I said with more than a hint of admiration in my voice.
"Oh, it was nothing," George beamed modestly. "Just a simple Inquitio Charm..."
"As fascinating as this all may be to you three," Ginny interrupted, "We do have a matter of business to conduct as quickly as possible, for some members of the "MRHS" club have other obligations this morning."
"MRHS?" I groaned, mentally preparing myself for the worst.
"Make Ron and Hermione Snog!" she snickered.
Merlin. Oh Merlin, Merlin, Merlin. Merlin, Merlin, Merlin. And did I mention OH MERLIN?
"You have got to be joking," I said weakly.
"Miss Granger, we never joke. Only prank." Fred said in a dignified, serious manner.
Percy crossed his arms. "I do believe that we ought to accomplish something in the next few minutes," he said rather testily, "Or else I am afraid this all was a huge waste of time. Right now, for instance, I could be..."
"Finishing a top-secret report on flimsy, leaky cauldron bottoms," Ginny, Fred, and George all snickered under their breath in unison.
"Precisely."
Percy can still be a real party pooper at times.
"So I take it the aim of this club is to make me Ron and I share a snog?"
"Precisely." I reckon that must be the word of the day.
"Well, you've obviously come to the wrong place. The fireworks are not going to go off between your brother and I."
"Hermione," George began dramatically, "We know about your erotic daydream concerning Ronniekins. Especially that infamous line, "Ron, you're a damn good kisser!"
This time, I literally had to sit on my hands to prevent myself from performing illegal magic and summoning a butcher knife from the kitchen to personally remove Harry James Potter's genitals slowly and painfully.
"Your boyfriend is DEAD!" I sweetly informed Ginny.
"Funny," Ginny giggled innocently. "Just five minutes ago we passionately snogged...and MORE!"
I covered my ears with my hands. "Please, Ginny, not this soon after breakfast!" Boy, at least Ron wasn't present to hear that. That reminded me... "Where's Ron?"
"Safely residing in his bedroom. I believe the events at the breakfast table were a bit too much for him to handle."
"Translation: His face is currently ten shades darker than his hair," Fred added helpfully.
"Once again, we are OFF THE TOPIC!" Percy snapped. "The aim of this club is not to stand around batting the breeze!"
"Er- right." George cleared his throat loudly.
Sounding as usual as though he had rehearsedthe following words, Percy said stiffly, "Hermione, it has come to our attention that you and my brother, Ronald BIlius Weasley both have affections for each other, but are too cowardly to let them be known. Is that correct?"
"Yes sir," I mumbled grudgingly.
"And do you plan on ever entering a dating relationship with him?"
"Yes sir." Percival Ignatius Weasley, psychologist.
"Perhaps today you will admit your feelings for him?"
"Hell no!"
"LANGUAGE!" Percy yelled.
"Sorry, Dr. Weasley."
"What did you just call me?"
"Nothing," I sniggered.
"Brother, you are being a ginormous annoyance to the woman. Let's just get to the point, shall we?" Fred suggested. "Harry, do the honors!"
Harry quickly rose to his feet and crossed the room in three giant steps to face me.
"Hermione, Ron is my best mate in the world. And I love you like the sister I never had. I care about you two SO MUCH that I have to say this. Dancing around a relationship is not a good idea right now. In fact, it's detrimental to your emotional and mental health!"
"Percy told you to say that, didn't he?"
"Guilty."
"To put it in simple terms, you have to tell Ron. Right now. You can't "wait for later," because you know what, 'Mione? Later may never come. Tomorrow Voldemort may attack and kill us all. How would you feel if you saw Ron's lifeless body lying on the ground, knowing that you never admitted your love for him?" Harry's voice started quavering and Fred, George and Percy took this as a cue to exit the room and leave for work.
"Hermione. Since that fateful day I met you and Ron on the train, I could detect a bond- love-between you two. As the years passed, I decided to just let things occur naturally. But since you two are obviously so bloody stubborn, I can't do that any longer. Any day now, death could strike us all. Like Ron's Mum said, you can't have any regrets in a time of war. And..." he broke off, blinking rapidly to fight back the tears that were threatening to fall. Taking a deep breath, he continued.
"I dunno how I could ever go on living if I were ever to lose you or Ron, Hermione. But I know it would be a hell of a lot worst if my two best mates never had the chance to explore their feelings for each other. To hold each other tight, to snog, to simply bask in the deep love that they share." The tears were now flowing freely. "The jeopardy that your lives are in is all my bloody fault. I know that. But, dammit! I'm not going to see my closest friends die because of me! And especially die with unspoken love!" That said, he fell to the ground, sobbing. I motioned for Ginny to leave the room. Tears running down my face, I knelt down beside the Boy-Who-Lived and wrapped my arms around him.
"You can't blame yourself for what is happening. What will happen in the future," I said gently, rubbing his back. He looked at me with red-rimmed eyes.
"But Hermione, it is my fault! Absolutely BLOODY EVERYTHING is my fault! I-I- I killed Sirius!" A wave of anguished sobs rocked through his whole body.
"Harry," I began firmly, "You really have to stop taking the blame! It was by fate that you were chosen to be the 'one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord.' It wasn't by your own free will. If Ron, Ginny, or I- or any of the Weasleys- or ANYONE dies in this war, you aren't responsible!"
Now he was bawling. "But I led Sirius right to death! I killed the closest link to my parents- the closest thing I had to a father!"
My heart ached for Harry. We sat there on the carpet, in each other's arms for a long time in silence.
Finally he spoke up in a hoarse voice. "Hermione, it isn't safe for you and Ron to be my friends anymore."
"Harry, you can't talk like this!"
"I mean it, 'Mione! Anyone who I let get close to me, any person whom I love dearly, Voldemort will murder!"
"You really think Ron and I are just simply going to leave your side? Never Harry, never!" My voice shook with emotion.
"It would be the safest for everyone."
"No, Harry. It wouldn't be." My mind raced frantically back to the things that Harry had shared with us concerning the prophecy.
"Dumbledore told you that you possess a certain, very powerful weapon that Voldemort lacks and will never have. Love. Ginny. Ron. Me. The Weasleys. Harry, we all love you and we will never let you stand alone!"
Harry was quiet, thoughtful. Then, "Please just do this one thing for me," he pleaded. "Tell Ron you love him. End the "battle of the hearts" once and for all. Please, Hermione, before it's too late!"
"Tell him that you love him."
